Otisville school vote today; building eyed by ultra-Orthodox Jewish congregation

Tuesday

Feb 25, 2014 at 2:00 AMFeb 25, 2014 at 9:41 AM

MOUNT HOPE — Mount Hope residents will go to the polls Tuesday to decide the fate of the former Otisville Elementary School, currently in contract to be sold.

Gittel Evangelist

MOUNT HOPE — Mount Hope residents will go to the polls Tuesday to decide the fate of the former Otisville Elementary School, currently in contract to be sold.

The Town Board, led by former Supervisor Bill Novak, passed a resolution Nov. 25 to sell the old school to Congregation Rechovos Hanohor, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish congregation, for $325,000. The sale depends upon the results of Tuesday's public referendum.

The vote was mandated after a groundswell of opposition to the sale led to a petition drive late last year that produced more than 500 signatures.

Opponents of the sale contend the school was promised for community use when the town took possession of it from the Minisink School District about eight years ago. At the time, the district built a new elementary school on Mount Hope Road on land traded by the town as part of the deal.

A plan spearheaded by former Town Board member John Bell to convert the former school for municipal offices and a community center fell apart after Bell died in 2006.

The old school has fallen into a state of disrepair in the years since.

Voting will take place from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Town Hall.

gevangelist@th-record.com

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